BACK ON TRACK

COMMUTER CHAOS

Southern Rail strike on 7 and 8 September to hit trains from Brighton to London - here are the routes affected

COMMUTER hell

Southern rail commuters hit by more travel misery as new round of strikes begins

The industrial action looks set to go ahead as planned after the union rejected an ultimatum from GTR, describing the company as “hell-bent on confrontation”.

While GTR wants trains to be driver-operated only – which would leave some services without a second staff member – the RMT says this would put passengers at risk.

On Monday 3 October, the operator gave the RMT until Thursday to accept a deal that included a £2,000 payment to workers whose roles would change in the shift.

'Improving rail services for Southern passengers is a priority for us and the operator'

Department for Transport

Despite this, union general secretary Mick Cash rejected the offer, and accused the company of refusing to participate in talks with mediation service Acas ahead of the upcoming wave of strikes.

In an interview with Associated Press, Cash said: “The rejection of unconditional Acas talks by Southern confirms that they have no interest in a settlement and are hell-bent on confrontation.”

Speaking on the decision, a spokesperson for GTR said on Tuesday: “As we spelled out in our letter to the RMT yesterday, we are already implementing our proposals and any discussions can now only relate to the detail of our offer.

Getty Images

Mick Cash ... union general secretary accuses company of refusing to participate in talks with mediation services as he rejects offer

“The timescales that we are working to and subsequent consequences have been clearly laid out and we therefore hope the union will finally engage with us on this basis to avoid any further unnecessary disruption and distress to our customers and staff.”

“Improving rail services for Southern passengers is a priority for us and the operator.

"We announced last month that Network Rail would deliver £20m of improvements and appointed a rail industry expert to lead a project board to drive up performance.

“We have responded to correspondence from lawyers acting on behalf of the Association of British Commuters.”

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368.